


Able-Bodied Seaman

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: AU Yeah August 2018 [7]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Human, Crossdressing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 10:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15604146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: Charley Pollard has traded the adulation of high society for a rough life aboard a sailing vessel.  But can she trust the ship's doctor with her secret?...Prompt: Famous AUPairing: Eighth Doctor/Charley Pollard





	Able-Bodied Seaman

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by imaginary_golux

A hand fell on Charley’s shoulder. “Ah, there you are!” Fear juddered through her--had someone discovered her secret? “Young Mr. Murchford, isn’t it? I’ve yet to give you your physical as a new member of the crew. Please, this way.”

Charley followed briefly, her relief at discovering the hand belonging to the (charming, slightly older) Doctor Octavian Smith momentarily beguiling her into following along before realizing what a physical would entail. “Oh, no need, Doctor.”

“There certainly is a need! It’s my duty to make sure the crew is in good physical and mental health throughout our voyages. Frankly, the fact that I’ve allowed you to escape my clutches for so long,” he laughed, playfully snatching her hand, “is a dereliction of that duty.”

“Really, couldn’t it wait?” she pleaded as he frogmarched her toward the sick bay. At least long enough for me to jump ship, she added to herself.

“Nonsense! No time like the present. And if it’s your supervisor you’re concerned about, I shall certainly explain everything to him.”

“Really, I’m the picture of health,” Charley wheedled. They were at the threshold of the ship’s sick bay. 

“Actually, I was about to say you look rather peaky.” He fixed her with a look of such tender concern that she abandoned her plans to run. She sighed and walked into the (blessedly empty) sick bay. “Go on, get that shirt and jacket off. I want to have a listen to those lungs of yours, make sure that fever isn’t anything dangerous--especially since you’ve gone quite red.”

The idea of removing her clothes for the Doctor was not, in and of itself, an abhorrent suggestion, but Charley decided that it was a rather forward way to engage a relationship. Instead, she coughed nervously, making Doctor Smith reach for his stethoscope. “The thing is…” Now or never, Pollard. “I’m a girl.”

Smith’s jaw dropped. “No!”

“Yes, I am.”

“No, I mean, yes, you are a girl, but no, you’re _the_ girl. The missing girl, from the papers.” He swept down into an elegant bow and kissed her hand, giving her the foolish impulse to giggle. “Charlotte Elspeth Pollard, Duchess of Hampshire. Bit of a mouthful, that, and it seems a bit silly to call you Simon Murchford now. At least while we’re in private.”

Charley’s head fairly swam with everything the Doctor had said. (She had the impression that he had that effect on people. It was one of the things she liked about him.) “Does that mean that you aren’t going to tell everyone who I am?”

A warm grin filled the Doctor’s features. “My dear Duchess, anything I learn in the course of a medical examination I hold in strictest confidence.” He winked broadly at her and Charley couldn’t help but smile back. She was decidedly falling for Smith, like the anchor through the deep. (Ethical scruples about personal relationships between doctor and patient could be dealt with later.) And she was careful this time not to confuse those feelings with the simple, grinning relief she felt at the safety of her secret. 

“In that case, Doctor Octavian Smith, you can call me Charley.”


End file.
